


Comfort Collection

by Shujinkakusama



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Based on a Tumblr Post, Canon Compliant, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Medical Inaccuracies, Multi, One Shot Collection, Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-02 19:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 4,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10951185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shujinkakusama/pseuds/Shujinkakusama
Summary: A series of drabbles/oneshots based on requests on Tumblr. Chapter titles will be the featured ship!1) Pearlnet - Singer2) Pearlnet - Marry me?3) Pearlnet - "Stop telling me you're okay."4) Jaspearl - "Hey, just look at me. Breathe.”5) Blue DiamondxBlue Pearl - “Please, don’t leave me alone.”6) Blue DiamondxBlue Pearl - "I'm in the hospital." Human AU.7) Jaspearlnet - "How long has it been since you've slept?"8) Jaspearlnet - Cuddles





	1. Pearlnet - Singer

Pearl sang often; while working, while cleaning, and much more recently, while training. None of these things were unknown; even Peridot complained that Pearl was _constantly_ singing, lyrical to a fault, and Pearl couldn’t really offer a counter-argument.

 

But it was one thing. Just one thing she’d been designed for, that had been _deliberate_ in her creation, that Pearl deeply enjoyed. It didn’t tingle or itch like the urge to clean, and it didn’t nag at her incessantly if there was silence. It simply _was_.

 

Pearl sang.

 

Sometimes, Garnet sang with her, a deep baritone that complimented her voice in ways Pearl wasn’t ever prepared for. She nearly dropped her sword when Garnet’s voice cut in to join her, and her lover hummed, set the next note out for her, and Pearl’s training turned into a dance of sorts. A performance that the two could share, even if Garnet stayed safely away from Pearl and her Holo-Pearls and their swords.


	2. Pearlnet - Marry Me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Garnet asks Pearl something important.

Nothing would have made Garnet happier.

 

That much was abundantly clear from the way she’d asked—actually asked, not danced around the action—for Pearl’s hand in mankind’s silly ‘marriage’ ritual. Garnet wore no visor that day, met Pearl’s eyes with openness that Pearl hadn’t seen in centuries, and asked.

 

_Will you marry me?_

And Pearl knew without answering that she couldn’t possibly say no, couldn’t ever in a million years reject her best friend, her lover, her everything—not even standing awkwardly inside Peridot and Lapis’ filthy barn, covered in engine oil and grime and _gross_ Earth things.

 

And wasn’t this a gross Earth thing? This silly practice that held no meaning, but Garnet was _asking_ , and she’d woven a clover into a ring, and Pearl knew that nothing could have made _her_ happier, either.


	3. Pearlnet - "Stop telling me you're okay."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the Tumblr prompt; "Stop telling me you're okay." Set after "I Am My Mom."

Garnet went out of her way to present herself as an island. She was the strong one; the unflappable one; the _leader_ , with Rose Quartz gone. She had known millennia ago that the mantle would fall to her if anything ever happened to Rose Quartz, and the fusion had prepared herself with walls and emotional distance. Ruby and Sapphire were together, and needed nothing but each other, and Garnet reasoned that she shouldn’t need more than that, either.

 

With _Steven_ gone, however, Garnet felt her world falling apart at the seams.

 

Futures flashed so wildly before her eyes that Garnet couldn’t see. Couldn’t move. The water to her right was chilly and might have frozen over if not for the sea’s salinity; to her left, the water bubbled and churned where her Gem sat in her hand.

 

“Garnet!” Pearl’s voice was shrill, and she tugged at her shoulder. “We’ve got to get these humans to shore…!”

 

“I’m okay,” Garnet said quickly, an answer to a question Pearl hadn’t yet gotten to, and she looked toward their remaining wards. Onion was long gone, already close to the shore, and Sadie was helping Jamie stay afloat. The mailman flailed, and Amethyst was holding Connie, whose sobbing was heartbreaking.

 

“You’re not,” Pearl corrected her automatically. None of them were. For her part, she was numb with grief, heavy with dread, and distractions were only so helpful. Garnet’s static jumped from her shoulder to Pearl’s fingertips, and she felt the charge run up to her Gem, a familiar but unpleasant tingle. Garnet _rarely_ lost control of her powers that way. “Let’s go.”

 

The return to shore was made in silence, and Amethyst beat them to the sand with Connie clinging to her shoulders while the girl cried. She should have been on that ship, should have been with Steven, they should have _fused_ —

 

The remaining Crystal Gems didn’t think Connie knew how true her words rang in their hearts.

 

With no way to return to space, no way to mount an attack on Homeworld, the Gems returned to their too empty base with heavy footsteps. Connie had a hundred ideas that she was desperate to try, and Pearl despondently had to shoot them down one by one. Soon enough, Connie was in tears again; face down in Pearl’s lap, arms around her waist, and Pearl whispered the meaningless reassurances that all parents did, knowing that none of them were true.

 

Garnet was silent, for the most part. Amethyst asked if she was alright when she hadn’t moved in an hour, and their leader affirmed this, a practiced lie that Pearl recognized. But with Connie in tears, she didn’t comment.

 

Amethyst finally fled to her room, no doubt just as upset as Connie and the others; Garnet stood stone still, arms folded, staring into futures that ended badly and blinking them away in quick succession. Her hands shook, nothing more, and long after Connie had cried herself to sleep, she remained silent.

 

“Garnet, can you—“

 

“I’m okay.”

 

Pearl frowned at the interruption, pursed her lips, and folded her arms. “ _Stop telling me you’re okay_ ,” she said firmly, with a voice that didn’t shake for once, despite her numbness. Actually, the emotional dissonance helped. “Stop _lying_. Just… stop, Garnet. None of us is okay. We all failed today. Come sit with me.”

 

It was by no means an uplifting speech. But Garnet did step forward, footsteps heavy, and she sank down on the couch at Pearl’s side. Pearl ghosted her fingers through Connie’s dark hair, gland for the reaffirmation that the girl was _definitely_ asleep, and then reached for Garnet’s hands, fire and ice in her palms. Both stung. Both _burned._

 

“I’m here,” Pearl said, voice stern, “I’m here, and you’re here, and we’ll get… something. Some solution. We’ll get him back, Garnet.”


	4. Jaspearl - "Hey, just look at me. Breathe."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaspearl for the prompt; "Hey, just look at me. Breathe."

Pearl panicking wasn’t pretty.

 

Even knowing what had set her off, even agreeing that it was _valid_ , that Steven disappearing through a one-way portal that dropped out who-knew-where and, apparently, wasn’t taking any other entrants was a good reason _to_ panic—it wasn’t pretty.

 

Jasper understood, from an outsider’s perspective, that Pearl considered Steven her own child in every sense that organics did—that he was Rose Quartz’s strange hybrid offspring with Greg Universe didn’t matter, in practice, because Pearl protected him with the ferocity of a dozen beasts. Jasper didn’t often think that Pearl was dangerous now, even knowing her history, but where Steven was concerned…

 

Steven was her hair trigger; most often, Pearl went at monsters with a terrifying vengeance if the boy so little as scraped something. Now, though, with an unmoving slab of slate between them, and some magical barrier preventing her from following her ward, her _son_ …

 

Pearl was panicking. She slammed her small body against the wall of the cavern with enough force to bruise her alabaster skin almost instantly; blue, then purple, bloomed across her skin, and Jasper firmly gripped her by the waist to stop her before she really hurt herself.

 

And then, deprived of action, Pearl burst into ugly tears.

 

“ _Hey, just look at me,_ ” Jasper commanded, but Pearl wasn’t looking, and Jasper had to tip her face up with one hand. Pearl was floundering, hiccupping and sobbing, choking on air. “ _Breathe_.”

 

It took a few tries, but Pearl did as she was told. She flung her arms around Jasper’s broad shoulders, spear long forgotten, and Jasper crouched a little to let the lithe Gem hold her while she cried. “If we can’t get through, we’ll find another way,” Jasper said softly, raking her claws along Pearl’s shoulders with a feather’s strength, and she shuddered in her arms. “Steven’s a resourceful kid. He’ll be fine until we can find him. Understand?”

 

Pearl nodded miserably, and Jasper drew back a little to press a quick kiss to her temple.

 

“Now get it together, and we’ll see what Strawberry Quartz can do about that through-way.”


	5. Blue DiamondxBlue Pearl - "Please, Don't Leave Me Alone."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue DiamondxBlue Pearl; "Please, don't leave me alone." Set before "The Trial."

A significant part of knowing one’s place meant knowing when to speak and, more importantly, when not to. In Blue Pearl’s case, it was often the latter; she was permitted to speak candidly with Her Diamond, sometimes, when they were alone, but silence was prudent. She wasn’t meant to have opinions, and she wasn’t so flawed that she thought otherwise. Yellow and White might have been loud-mouthed and often out of line, but Blue honored Her Diamond by playing her role perfectly. She was still, and silent, and spoke when she was instructed.

 

Blue was proud of her ability to curb her own tongue, in the same way that she was silently proud of her ability to make Her Diamond smile when she danced. Pride was a dangerous thing, but a _little_ pride was within her parameters. Nacre had assured her of that before her assignment.

 

So she was silent, and proud, and dutiful. Carefully styled hair obscured her eyes—too sharp, too much like Pink’s—and Blue knew where and when to stop walking based on Her Diamond’s presence, on the cool magic that the Judge carried with her wherever she went.

 

Blue did not, however, know what to do _without_ Her Diamond.

 

“You’re to stay here, Pearl,” Blue Diamond said in the mournful sigh that she used in private, candid and truer than the tone she used in the court. Large fingers dusted over her pearl’s hair and shoulders, gentle as a breeze, and Blue straightened just a little, just to get another tic of contact. She hid her disappointment well; Blue Diamond didn’t seem to notice the way her lips briefly pursed, the way she frowned before she could catch herself. “That traitor Rose Quartz will be put on trial, and I’ll not have you see her fate.”

 

Blue didn’t think there was going to be much of a trial, not for a Diamond-shattering rebel. She thought briefly of White, and banished those traitorous thoughts of the sister she would never see again. Instead, she bowed her head in silent agreement.

 

When Her Diamond stood, the air shifted with her, and Blue straightened, clasping trembling hands in front of her Gem. Blue Diamond had shattered Gems for lesser offenses than Rose Quartz’s numerous transgressions, and she was precocious at times. Blue’s life had never been in danger—not as a gift from Her Holiness, not as Blue Diamond’s favorite—but she still had a healthy fear for Her Diamond’s temper.

 

“M-my Diamond?” she asked, knowing it was a risk. Blue Diamond looked down at her, and her eyebrow rose just slightly in questioning. “ _Please, don’t leave me alone_ …”

 

It was a selfish request. It was a _foolish_ request. But her beloved Diamond might not return, not if Rose Quartz could still shatter greater Gems, and that scared her more than Her Diamond’s temper.

 

Fortunately, Blue Diamond smiled indulgently and leaned down to stroke her pearl’s hair. “You will be safe,” the Judge assured her, and Blue Pearl neither doubted nor cared about _that_. “I will return in due time.”

 

And with that, without a glance, Blue Diamond left her pearl behind, much more interested in bringing justice to her sister’s killer than in the worries of her servant.

 

Blue knew it wasn’t appropriate to cry, and she didn’t—not much, not more than a few tears—and once she had indulged in her weakness, a private, rare thing that she would never show Her Diamond, she stood straight and clasped her hands.

 

And she waited, and hoped for good news on Her Diamond’s return.


	6. BDxBP - Human AU - I'm At The Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> BDxBP Human AU - "I'm at the hospital."

Belle worked in a very prestigious jeweler’s shop, solely because she had already been living in the apartment directly above it when the _Diamond Authority_ bought the lower half of the building. It was a family-owned affair, with a few locations, each headed by one of three sisters, and prior to Belle’s inclusion, the money and everything to do with the business stayed in the family, the way it had for generations.

 

Belle had been working there for three years. She tended to the younger sister, Hope, and while she didn’t know most of what went on outside of the storefront, she rather suspected that Hope’s family was involved in some kind of horrifying mafia, laundering diamonds and sapphires and who knew what else.

 

Still, Belle adored her work. She liked keeping the glass streak-free, enjoyed decorating the displays, enjoyed being watched by her employer. Hope was a quiet woman, with hair that couldn’t possibly be naturally silver, and she didn’t give compliments with much frequency.

 

But she liked Belle; she complimented her hair let her dye it as long as the roots didn’t show, and in lieu of a Christmas bonus the previous year, she had a decorative comb made for her, bedecked in powder blue pearls set in sterling, with white sapphires that shone like stars. Belle had never owned anything so precious.

 

Hope was never late, save once, and on that day Belle worried like no other. She opened the store by herself and turned customers with appointments away, because despite her years of service, she simply wasn’t a jeweler. She couldn’t take down commissionable requests, or offer resizing.

 

Her phone rang, and she’d forgotten to turn it off—but the melody that filtered from her purse wasn’t one she heard often. Hope had a custom ring tone set in her phone, just like anyone else who was particularly important in Belle’s life. Belle liked to hope that her employer didn’t notice.

 

She dove for her bag, rushing to answer with an uncertain-sounding; “H-hello?”

 

“ _I’m at the hospital_ ,” Hope said, sounding tired and irritated and a little bit medicated. Belle’s heart beat so rapidly against her breastbone that she thought it might hammer its way out of her chest. “You can close the store for today. I won’t be in.”

 

“What happened?” Belle blurted out, and then thought better of it, but it was too late to retract her question. It wasn’t her business, but that didn’t mean for a second that Belle didn’t care.

 

On the other end, the rush of breath might have been a laugh, or a sigh, but Belle couldn’t tell. Hope was hard to read in person; harder over the phone. “A car accident,” was the cryptic answer, and then, before she could question further; “I’ll text you the room, if you’re concerned. My driver is in worse shape than I am.”

 

“I-I’ll be there right away,” Belle insisted, already moving to turn the store’s open sign off, dimming the lights as she went. “Do you want anything? Should I bring you a book? I—I realize hospitals are terribly boring…”

 

This time it was _definitely_ a laugh, but that gave way to a coughing fit, and Hope must have put the phone down while the woman argued her nurse off. Belle chewed her lip until it was raw, waiting.

 

“A book would be lovely.”


	7. Jaspearlnet - "How Long Has It Been Since You've Slept?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaspearlnet - "How long has it been since you've slept?" Post-series.

Sleeping was an acquired taste that Pearl hadn’t quite wrapped her mind around, despite surrounding herself for much of her life with quartzes, all of which slept almost regularly. Rose Quartz slept often; Amethyst would spend more time asleep than awake if she had the chance, except that it meant less time for _eating;_ Steven was half-human and slept by necessity.

 

Garnet didn’t sleep often, although it was hard to tell when she meditated with her visor on. 

 

And then there was Jasper.

 

Jasper slept often, deeply, sometimes for consecutive days–and she rarely did so alone. Her lovers indulged her, usually in a communal corner of the Temple that wouldn’t collapse if someone fused or unfused. Pearl usually managed to sneak away twelve or fifteen hours into one of her power naps, unable to quiet her mind for so long, and Garnet usually helped her. 

 

Usually.

 

This time, despite her best efforts, Jasper had successfully conked out with an arm draped over Pearl’s slight torso, practically crushing her under her deadweight in her sleep. Try as she might, Pearl could neither escape nor rest, and Garnet wasn’t interested in saving her.

 

“ _How long has it been since you’ve slept_?” the fusion asked with a wry grin. She asked questions when she knew the answers, and never in front of Steven or Amethyst; it spoke volumes that she would _ask_  something around Jasper, even dead asleep. She was like a bear wrapped around a faun; Pearl stood no chance. 

 

“Not long enough to sleep again,” Pearl mumbled, and as if to protest her noncompliance, Jasper’s Gem prodded her throat, sharp and with too much force; Pearl squeaked, leaning her head back. The angle was awkward, and she _definitely_  couldn’t sleep like that. Garnet took pity on her, but only a little; she wound a fist full of Jasper’s thick mane around one hand and gently tugged, easing their bigger lover away.

 

Of course, while Jasper was a heavy sleeper, she wasn’t _that_  heavy a sleeper; she grunted, gripped Pearl’s narrow shoulder almost hard enough to bruise, and gold eyes fluttered open.

 

“Good morning sunshine,” Garnet teased, releasing her hair. “You’re squishing Pearl.”


	8. Jaspearlnet - Cuddles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone requested Jaspearlnet cuddles!

There was never _enough_ time.

 

Life on Earth was paradoxical and strange, and a year after her healing, Jasper didn’t truly understand it. Seven months into folding into Garnet and Pearl’s strangely open relationship, she understood even _less._ Time was fleeting and days were short, and somehow, Amethyst found time to sleep sprawled out on the floor for Jasper to trip over, but her lovers were always moving. Always working.

 

Homeworld had been strangely silent, hadn’t sent anyone to Earth, hadn’t sent probes or messages—the reprieve was nice, but didn’t make sense. But that didn’t stop Garnet and Pearl from going out on missions, sometimes with the rest of the Gems now living in the beach house.

 

Garnet was gone more frequently, but Pearl never slept without prompting. Jasper understood, fundamentally, that Gems didn’t _need_ sleep, and that Pearl wasn’t as defective as she had seemed when they first met, but it was something all the other Crystal Gems seemed to do with some regularity.

 

Pearl, however, showed her exhaustion more openly than Garnet did. Jasper watched from the couch as she faltered in her meticulous dismantling of some human contraption that probably needed _replacing_ more than refurbishing, blindly digging through her toolbox in search of something primitive.

 

The warp lit up, a blinding blue light that Jasper should have been accustomed to, but that still made her squint and see stars. She turned her gaze away from Pearl and smiled thinly at the fusion.

 

“She’s gonna be at it all day,” Garnet remarked dryly, and Jasper huffed in exasperation. She knew Pearl well enough to know that already, but having Garnet confirm it wasn’t comforting.

 

“I’m bored,” Jasper grumbled, and Garnet knew that, too. “She hasn’t stopped fusing wires and who-cares-what else to that stupid cube since Steven and Amethyst left for donuts.”

 

“Sit tight,” Garnet said, slipping past the table and behind Pearl without making a sound. Not that the alabaster Gem was likely to notice when she was engrossed in tinkering on the kitchen island. But Garnet waited a moment for Pearl to reach again for her tools before catching her hand, and Jasper barked out a laugh at the undignified squawk Pearl made.

 

“Break time,” Garnet purred into Pearl’s ear, tugging her gently away from her work. Pearl might have protested if Garnet weren’t guiding her by the hip, might have insisted on more than putting down her goggles before getting pulled completely away from Steven’s game system, but Garnet maneuvered her with an expert hand, guiding her like they were dancing, and Pearl couldn’t tell her no.

 

Jasper didn’t like to admit that she, too, had trouble denying Garnet. But the fusion was sensual and insistent and knew her lovers very, very well—so much so that Pearl didn’t question the languid dip Garnet leaned her into across Jasper’s lap, and only squeaked when Garnet dropped her the last few inches into the quartz’s waiting arms.

 

“Pearl,” Jasper’s voice was a low rumble, and the tension in her shoulders faded quickly. Pearl shifted a little awkwardly across Jasper’s knee, reaching up to brush her bangs away from her piercing eyes. “It’s been _six_ _hours_.”

 

Color dusted Pearl’s cheeks, and she glanced to Garnet, who sat at Jasper’s side with a broad smirk on her ace. “Oops?” Pearl managed, “I… lost track of time.”

 

“Time to take a break,” Garnet declared, reaching around Jasper’s shoulders in a loose hug. Jasper never thought she’d be used to the casual affection Garnet displayed, or the ease with which she seemed to make herself comfortable against her side. Pearl, by contrast, was unexpectedly awkward for her caste; hesitant some days and bold others. She was gangly and awkward despite her beauty, and graceful when she danced, but uncertain with her feather-light touches.

 

It had been months, and Jasper was still surprised on the rare occasions that Pearl made a move. So when her smaller lover leaned up to press a kiss to her cheek, Jasper flushed, instinctively curling an arm around her lithe frame.

 

“It looks like you have something in mind,” Pearl said, and Garnet chuckled, blowing a tuft of Jasper’s hair away from her face.

 

“I can think of a few things,” Garnet said, sliding a partially gloved hand over Jasper’s shoulder and down her arm, tracing a familiar vivid stripe. “But I wouldn’t want _Jasper_ to be bored…”

 

“I swear on the stars, Garnet, if you’re going to tease me and leave me on this couch to deal with the consequences—“

 

Pearl giggled, rearranging herself in Jasper’s lap to curl closer. Her exhaustion wasn’t forgotten, and truth be told, she didn’t think she could keep up with Jasper or Garnet’s… enthusiasm. “I think I’ll have to owe both of you another time, if _that’s_ what you have in mind,” she admitted, and the look that Garnet and Jasper shared was one of surprising understanding.

 

“Another time,” Jasper said quickly, although she _would_ have enjoyed that. She leaned down to dust a kiss over Pearl’s lips and cheek, slipping her opposite hand around her lower back. “I can be content with both of you for now. Like this.”

 

“We don’t have long,” Garnet cautioned them, and Jasper huffed in annoyance.

 

“We never do,” Pearl admitted, returning Jasper’s kiss before pushing herself up to give Garnet one as well. “But we can make the most of the next few hours, I’m sure.”

 

Jasper made a show of grumbling about it, but she sprawled across the couch and tugged Pearl into her arms, and Garnet nestled in on top of them without teasing her at all.


	9. Blue DiamondxBlue Pearl - Human AU Pt2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hope's recovery is slow, but Belle quickly gets wrapped up in her employer's life.

Hope’s accident opened the door to a number of opportunities for Belle Jules, and six months later, she was still reeling from it all. Her employer had sustained severe nerve damage in her lower back, and while she certainly had the resources to pay for the corresponding surgeries, it had left her largely wheelchair-bound. Hope confided in Belle that she found it less undignified than crutches would have been, and while she could still walk unaided some days, she preferred to sit. Belle all too quickly found herself with a new job; Hope’s personal assistant, at her employer’s side more days than not, and with the promotion came a new world of expectations and interactions that nothing on Earth could have prepared her for.

 

Solaire, Hope’s older sister, met her at the hospital with a fiery temper that Belle eventually learned to tiptoe around. She was fiercely overprotective over Hope, with misplaced anger that scorched anyone unfortunate enough to cross her path. It was a strange coincidence that Belle’s own older sister, Yvette, worked for Elite, a company that provided secretarial staff for Solaire’s private business, but once known, the blonde-haired woman immediately snatched Yvette up for her own assistant.

 

 _“The Diamond Authority prefers to keep things in the family,”_ Solaire had explained in a tone that made Belle’s stomach flip with anxiety. Hope assured her, in a quiet whisper, hopped up on morphine, that Solaire was much less intense when she was relaxed, but Belle never seemed to catch that side of her.

 

Belle read to Hope while she was in the hospital, and although Hope admitted weeks later that she couldn’t remember much of her stay, it was a bonding experience like none other. Belle found herself more at ease with the older woman than she had ever been, even when Hope raised her voice to demand things of her nurses and doctors that Belle didn’t entirely think were legal requests.

 

Solaire was quick to send someone to assess Belle’s living conditions once Hope was home from her hospital stay, and Belle had no idea how the woman had gotten her spare key. But not long after the accident Yvette was at her door, dressed in a lemon-yellow pencil skirt and a frilled blouse, informing her that they were going shopping and re-outfitting her sister’s entire wardrobe. Belle nearly choked at the sight of the bill for _one_ of five department stores she’d only ever seen in movies, and Yvette cheerily informed her that the entire thing was being written off as a business expense.

 

Belle wasn’t sure that was legal, either.

 

Not long after that, when Belle’s lease was due for renewal, Hope surprised her with a key to one of the apartments in her own complex and instructions to complete her move within two weeks. Belle didn’t argue, couldn’t _dream_ of it, and privately said goodbye to her small studio in favor of a two bedroom that she knew must have cost more than her college tuition.

 

“Ma’am, are you sure?” Belle asked Hope uncertainly, eyes wide and round and _frightened_ by the changes. Hope grasped her hand and smiled thinly, said nothing, and Belle thanked her profusely and tried not to cry.

 

Physical therapy fell on days that Belle would have typically taken dance, but Hope’s schedule was packed tight, and Belle realized too late that she hadn’t signed up for ballet for spring. When she mentioned this to Hope, her employer’s eyes grew distant, and the woman asked if she would like a private teacher—Belle declined on principle. Hope surprised her with tickets to _Swan Lake_ a few weeks later, and they went together.

 

The whirlwind never seemed to settle; Belle found herself accompanying Hope to Paris, then to South Africa, and several other countries that had never been in her budget to see for herself. Hope spoke flawless French, and Belle tried to follow along, but high school had been several years ago, and she barely kept up.

 

Hope didn’t chide her for her quietness in public. If anything, she seemed to enjoy it. On occasions where Solaire was present, both Hope and Belle tended toward silence, and Hope informed her that sometimes it was better to listen than to speak. Belle took this to heart.

 

“Belle, you are truly a marvel,” Hope said one day, catching her assistant off guard. They were in the elevator, heading down from Solaire’s penthouse suite, and Belle absently gripped the handles of the wheelchair, feeling her face flush at the praise.

 

“Ma’am?”

 

“I don’t think you’ve complained once since my accident,” Hope went on, hands folded primly in her lap. “I inconvenience you so much, but you’re always willing to put your day aside for me.”

 

“O-of course,” Belle stammered, “I… you do so much for me. It’s not inconvenient. If… if you need me, ma’am, I’ll be there.”

 

Hope smiled, and Belle caught sight of the rare expression in her reflection on the gold-toned elevator doors. “I know you will, Belle.”


End file.
